HKFA closes Expo with winners

Having announced its nominees back in early February, the Hong Kong Film Awards closed out the month-long Entertainment Expo which began with Filmart, HAF and the HKIFF on 23 March.

Once the festival has closed, and much of the international attention moved on, the Expo takes on a distinctly local flavour, and this year offered up a broader selection of winners without favoured son Wong Kar Wai competing.

The Golden Era

Ann Hui’s The Golden Era, seen here in Event’s Cinema Asia programme, took five awards including Best Film and Best Director to be the biggest winner on the night. In the best actress awards, Era’s Tang Wei was beaten by Vicki Zhao (Dearest), who’d also won in mid-January at at the Hong Kong Film Critics awards.

Each nominated across multiple categories the two openers of the 2014 HKIFF, Pang Ho-cheung’s Aberdeen and Fruit Chan’s The Midnight After, left with wins in the technical categories. Felix Chong and Alan Mak’s Overheard 3, which went into the awards the most-nominated title with 11 nods, converted three into wins.

Overheard 3

Donnie Yen and Yuen Wo Ping, both in NZ last year for Crouching Tiger 2, fought over the Action Choreography gong with Kung Fu Jungle and Rise Of The Legend respectively. Yen won, while Rise of the Legend took the VFX award.

Winner of the Best Supporting Actor award, Kenneth Tsang, will be remembered by NZ audiences from Roseanne Liang’s My Wedding & Other Secrets. Cantopop singer Ivana Wong, had five nominations, including three of five in the newcomer category. She won two awards, missing out – perhaps ironically – in the Best Song category.

Ivana Wong in Golden Chicken SSS

The Hong Kong Film Awards will be presented on 19 April at the final event of Hong Kong’s annual Entertainment Expo. Other Expo events include FILMART (23 – 26 March), the Hong Kong Asia Financing Forum (HAF, 23 – 25 March), and the Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF, 23 March – 6 April). The Asian Film Awards (AFA), of which the HKIFF is an organiser, runs in March in Macau.

Best Original Film Score
*** Ellen Loo, Veronica Lee, The Midnight After
Taro Iwashiro, The Crossing I
Peter Kam, Aberdeen
Eli Marshall, The Golden Era
Shigeru Umebayashi, Rise Of The Legend

Best Original Film SongNever Say Break Up Again, from Break Up 100, performed by Ivana WongBrand New Hong Kong, from Golden Chicken SSS, performed by my little airport
*** Destination, from Aberdeen, performed by Anthony WongYour Legend, from Rise Of The Legend, performed by MaydayThe Quiet Storm, from Insanity, performed by Eason Chan